Monday, October 15, 2012

Special Guest Best Selling Author Alexa Grace

Alexa, can you please tell us more about your newest release.

Deadly
Relations, the third book of the Deadly
Trilogy, was published on September 21. Here is a brief
description of the plot.In Deadly
Relations, a serial killer of young women hides in plain sight in a
quiet county in the Midwest. Concealed behind a friendly and
trustworthy face, no one knows he has a rage to kill he can't control
— until it's too late.Detective
Jennifer Brennan, still haunted by her abduction five years before,
devotes her life to serve and protect others. So when three
young women go missing and are found murdered on her watch, she vows
to find the killer — or die trying.

A
personal relationship with her partner, Detective Blake Stone, would
be career suicide. But the connection Jennifer has with him is
nothing short of electric. Working with Blake daily and denying
her attraction is hard. But when he moves in to protect her,
resisting him becomes pure torture.

As
they fight temptation, two detectives race against time to find the
killer before he strikes again. It is the most important case
of their careers. It could be their last.

Excerpt from Deadly Relations:

Jennifer
left the Sugar Creek Cafe, where she’d filled her thermos with hot
coffee. She walked down Main Street toward the county sheriff’s
building, where Catherine Thomas’s latest search efforts were being
organized. March had been fickle thus far, alternating between
unseasonably warm or frigid weather. Today, it was chilly, so
she tightened the belt on her coat and lifted her collar as she
walked against the wind that whipped her hair about, stinging her
face and eyes. Though she’d never admit it, she was exhausted
and had averaged around four hours of sleep per night since Catherine
went missing. When she wasn’t in her car searching for
Catherine, she was sitting in front of her computer using the methods
Frankie had taught her to look for a missing person. Her
cousin, Frankie, was a private investigator with an expertise in
technology, and Jennifer had worked for Frankie prior to going to the
Police Academy. But Frankie’s sure-fire methods hadn’t
worked to find Catherine.

One
look at the gray clouds overhead confirmed what the TV weather guy
had said. There was a chance of rain today. At least, she
hoped it was just rain. If the temperature dipped below
thirty-two degrees, there was a good chance they’d get freezing
rain, or what people called “black ice.” That made the roads
treacherous to drive, let alone search for a missing person.

The
majority of the businesses in the historic downtown area were located
on Main Street for six blocks or more. Most of the buildings had been
built a hundred or so years before. They’d been preserved by
massive renovations and modernization as time went on.

The
wind was playing havoc with Catherine Thomas’s missing posters,
which peppered the trees and light posts. Lining the inside of
nearly every shop or restaurant window was the poster for the world
to see, with the silent prayer that someone would find her.
Fred and Julie Thomas worked tirelessly to get the word out about
Catherine’s disappearance.

Jennifer
gritted her teeth as she thought about Catherine. She’d been
abducted. Though there was no evidence, she was sure of it.
Catherine had been taken against her will, just as Jennifer had been
taken years before. The girl was looking forward to going to the
police academy. She was not a runaway. There was no way Jennifer
would believe Catherine left on her own volition. She had an
ominous feeling that time had run out, and their chances of finding
Catherine alive were nil. Catherine’s parents hadn’t lost hope of
finding her alive, but Jennifer had. She knew the more time that
elapsed, the less likely they would find Catherine alive. Like
most detectives, Jennifer knew that time and again when they didn’t
find the missing person within forty-eight hours, it was likely the
person was dead.

It
was Thursday and Catherine had been missing for five days — a time
period painfully realized by every member of the county sheriff
department. The staff took it personally. The sheriff, each of
his officers, and all the admins wore a yellow arm band that matched
the yellow ribbon tied around a huge oak tree in the Thomas’s front
yard. People don’t go missing on their turf, on their watch.

So
much time had elapsed that most of the sheriff’s team had lost hope
that Catherine was alive, just as Jennifer had. The sense of
loss made them more determined to find her body so they could focus
on what happened to her. While there was a lot of information
they’d gain by finding a dead body in terms of prosecuting a
killer, there was a lot more satisfaction in finding the missing
alive.

Fear
ran rampant, as was evident by increased calls to the station.
Paranoid citizens were reporting suspicious strangers, or strange
noises outside their homes. High school girls, much to their
distress, found themselves with early curfews and increased parental
surveillance. Local restaurants were filled with anxious
chatter about Catherine, and gossip ran rampant. People were
angry, too, firing blame at the county sheriff’s office for not
finding Catherine.

For
the first time since Jennifer could remember, people were locking
their doors at nights and leaving on their outside lights. The quiet
street she lived on was usually dim at nightfall, with only a few
street lamps to light the way. Since Catherine went missing,
the street was flooded bright by house, porch, and garage lights

What can we
expect from you in the future?My next book
Profile of Evil will
be published in the spring of 2013. It is the first book of the
Profile Trilogy. Here is a brief description of the plot.Carly Stone is a
brilliant FBI agent who's seen more than her share of evil.
Leaving the agency, she becomes a consultant for Indiana County
Sheriff Brody Chase. He needs her help to catch a savage killer
who is luring teenaged girls to their death in the handsome sheriff's
community.The two are
determined to stop a dangerous predator before he takes another life
— at any cost.How can we
find out more about your books, Alexa?

Alexa's
journey started in March 2011 when the Sr. Director of Training &
Development position she'd held for thirteen years was eliminated. A
door closed but another one opened. She finally had the time to
pursue her dream of writing books -- her dream since childhood. Her
focus is now on writing riveting romantic suspense novels.

Alexa
earned two degrees from Indiana State University and currently lives
in Florida. She's a member of Romance Writers of America (national)
as well as the Florida Chapter.

Her
books Deadly Offerings and Deadly Deception have
consistently been listed on Amazon's Top 100 Bestselling Romantic
Suspense Books. She was recently named one of the top 100 Indie
authors by Kindle Review. A chapter is devoted to her in the
book Interviews with Indie Authors by C. Ridgway and T.
Ridgway.

Her
writing support team includes five Miniature Schnauzers, three of
which are rescues. As a writer, she is fueled by Starbucks lattes,
chocolate and emails from readers.

Her book
Deadly Offerings is the first of her Deadly Trilogy. The
second book of the trilogy, Deadly Deception, is available now
as is Deadly Relations, the final book of the Deadly Trilogy.

Profile
of Evil, the first book of the
Profile Trilogy will be available in spring 2013.

4 comments:

Alexa has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I love her writing style. Too many of the mystery/suspense writers are overtly graphic in descriptions of their "villians" and their deeds. Alexa manages to capture enough detail that you "know" what the villian did, without too much of the blood and gore that can give you nightmares.

I am anxiously awaiting her new book. If it is anything like her last, it will be a best seller and go to the top of my "must read" list.